Paralyzed During Surgery at Walter Reed, Guardsman Asks Supreme Court to Consider Feres Doctrine Challenge

Since April 6, 2018, Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Ryan Carter has been unable to dress himself, eat alone or walk from one room to another. On that day, Carter was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for back surgery to address chronic pain; he left 19 days later, a paraplegic and victim, he says, of medical malpractice.

At the time of the surgery, Carter was not on active-duty orders or medical orders -- an inactive status his attorneys argue made him eligible to file a malpractice claim against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

According to court documents, Carter and his wife, Kathleen Cole, did just that. But 82 days after Carter's surgery, the military changed his status to active duty and backdated it to March 14, 2018 -- an alteration that disallowed any claims due to the Feres doctrine, the federal ruling that bars active-duty service members from suing the government for injuries.